Rotary crop divider for harvesters



Feb. 27, 1951 s. H. MARSH 2,543,324

ROTARY CROP DIVIDER FOR HARVESTERS Filed July 50, 1949 8 3 4 INVENTOR.

STANLEY H. MARSH ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 27, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROTARY" CROP HARVESTERS' Stanley Herbert Marsh;.Beloit, Wisi, assignor to Deere'Manufa'ctur ing (50., Dub'uque,v Iowa, a

corporation 01'? Iowa Armenian-anus, 194a semi? 1w.- mvgiu'i' v 11 Glalms. 11;

This invention relates to a-harvester more particularly to" a rotary crop divider fora-har vester of the type utilizedfor'pielting up h'ay 'arid similar crops.

An example of'the'general class or harvester referred to isthe so called forage harvester which is operated 'ei ther' in -conjunctiori withor subsequent to a machinethat cuts the standing crops and leaves the. cropslyingin swaths in the field; the forage harvester is equipped with appropriate" pick-up meat-1'sforgatheririgthe out crops and feeding sue-h crops to crop-handling means which, in the usual case, comprises a chopper or other crop reducing means and a suitable blower or similar conveyor for" trans f'erin'g the reduced crops: to awagon or'other vehicle operated in conjunction with the har vester. Normally, the crop (hay, for example) is cut by a mower and the -swaths -aressubsequently raked into windrows'bya side-delivery rake. Thereafter, therforage harvester" its pick-up attachment, is driveirover the field and the windrows are gathered. In manyinstanees, however, it is desired'to pick up -th'e' green: hay directly; that is;- i-t= is desiredto: omit the side raking operation; In instancessuch as these, there is a pronounced disadvantage izi thaththe ordinary pick-up: on the: f age: harvester. is not capable of handlir-ig the' hay tromflthe swaths, since the haybecomes entangledwith the outer end of the pick-up and balls or bunch-es at this point and under the wheel of' the" harvester. Al.- though the conventienal forage harvester is equipped with a divider inthe" form I of airod or shield, such divider is not; adequate to avoid-the vester so-that as thei-pich-upgathers hay from v the swaths and transferssuchlhay; rearwardly, the rotary divider will -move-hay ahead of and at the outer end" of the pick-up'outwardly from that portion of thdswath engaged by" the: pick uph Another object of the invention: is: to provide the movable or rotary 'dividerwith crop engaging fingers of the disappearing finger type. Still another objectzvoflv the invention. is to provide the divider as 'a convenientiattachment for foragev harvesters: of known designs; Yet

another: objectof the: invention.- is to: provide 2 driving meansford-riving therotar'y divider from the rotary pickup device;

The foregoing and other important objects and desirable: features inherent in and encompassed by the invention will become apparent asa disclosure of a preferred form-of the inventioniscomplet'ely made in the following detailed description and accompanying sheet of drawin' gs; which Figure I is a plan view of a forage harvester equipped with the rotary divider device;-

Eigure 2 is'a side" elevational view of the harvester shown: in Figure 1 with parts removed to! clarify the il1ustration;.;

Figure 3 i's a fragmentary sectional View, drawn to an enlarged scale, taken substantially along theline 3'-3 oi-Figure- 2;

Figure 42 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on the line 4-4 of' Figure 3; and

Figured is an enlarged side elevational view of the mounting or supporting bracket for the attachment. 7

The" forageharvester structure shown in the drawing ismere'ly representative of several for-ms that. the machine could assume; Likewise; the preferred form of the rotary divider illustrated and" described herein is'typi'caland the selec tiorroi? the particular design in either case for the purposes of illustration is notintended to exclude'other designs. Consequently; the present disclosureshould" be taken as illustrative and not: limiting.

The forage harvester selected for the purposes of? illustration. comprises a mainframe renderedrrnobile'by means of left-handand righthand carrying wheels I2 and" M; The forward portion of the frame is provided with a hitoh device l e-by means of which the-harvester may betrconnected to a tractor or other: suitable vehicleito be drawnforwardly over a field in which hay orr'similar-crops ha-ve been cut and left lying in swathsi The forage"harvester'illustrated isof the type shown in the: UPS; patent to Hill 2547,90? and has" at its; rear end crop handling. or treating means: including: a blower: housing I8 which re cei'ves crops: from a pick-up device 20; reduces such crops? by chopping, and delivers the crops throughia conveyor or: outlet duct 22; The pickupdevic'etis ahead ofthe' blower housing 18 and the conveyor duct 22 extends-laterally of the directionof" travel: of: the harvester.

The pick-up device is part of crop-gathering mechanism carried? bythe: main frame Hi by means of a: pair" of forwardly diverging and downwardly extendingrf-ramebars and 26 between which' is carried an upwardly and rearvwnrdlyinclining platform"v 281. This platform leads ito a feeder hduser3fl -ahead of'the blower housing :8. Side sheets or walls 32 and 34 are carried respectively by the frame bars 24 and 26, and further delineate the platform 28. The forward ends of the frame bars 24 and 26 are cross-connected by a transverse arch 36.

The pick-up device itself comprises an elongated cylinder 38 disposed transverse to the line of travel and carried at opposite ends by suitable bearings (not shown) in the frame structure comprising the frame bars 24 and 26. The particular form of pick-up device illustrated is merely one of several types known in the art. The details of this pick-up device are disclosed in the Hill patent mentioned above.

Briefly, the pick-up device comprises the elongated cylinder 38 and a central shaft 40 by means of which the cylinder is carried. Figure 3 shows the construction at one end of the cylinder and it may be assumed that the construction at the other end, with the exceptions to be presently noted, is similar. The shaft 40 carries at its right-hand end a spider or mounting member 42 which is secured to the shaft and which fits within and is secured to the cylinder 38. This spider carries a plurality of parallel shafts 44 within the cylinder and radially spaced from the central shaft 40. As suggested above, a similar spider is at the left-hand end of the shaft and the left-hand ends of the plurality of shafts 44 are carried in such spider. The right-hand ends of the shafts 44 project through the spider 42 and each has fixed thereto a control cam 46. The cams 46 are governed by a master cam 48 which is fixed to part of the frame structure comprising the frame bar 26 and a housing or enclosure 56 over the right-hand end of the cylinder 38.

Each of the shafts 44 carries a plurality of crop-engaging members in the form of resilient fingers 52 which project respectively through appropriate peripheral slots 54 in the cylinder 38, the details of which are fully disclosed in the Hill patent identified above. The cylinder 38 is rotated in the direction of the arrow in Figure 2 and the fingers 52 at the bottom portion of the cylinder are extended downwardly and forwardly to pick up hay from the field. As the cylinder rotates rearwardly toward the platform 28, the fingers deliver the picked up hay to the platform and then are retracted in the known manner to strip the crops therefrom,

operating through appropriate slots 56 in the forward portion of the platform.

Power for rotating the pick-up device is supplied by means of a power shaft 58 which pmi jects at the forward end of the frame I9 and which is adapted to be connected to the power take-off shaft of the propelling vehicle. The shaft 58 extends rearwardly through suitable universal joints 66 and shaft sections 62, 64 and 66 to drive a fiat belt 68 which in turn drives a shaft for rotating a blower (not shown) contained within the blower housing I8. The shaft 66 further drives suitable gearing (not shown) contained in a gear casing 12, and power is transmitted from the gear casing through a transverse shaft 14 to a chain 16 and suitable sprocket at the right-hand side of the feeder house 30.

There is rotatably carried at the junction of the platform 28 a feeder house 36 a transverse shaft '18 (Figure 2) on which is fixed a plurality of sheaves (not shown) for driving a plurality of conveyor chains 80 (Figure 1). These chains are trained about sheaves 82 formed on the outer surface of the drum or cylinder 38. The shaft 78 may be driven in any suitable manner from the shaft 14, as indicated in the Hill patent referred to above.

The construction thus far described is largely conventional and operates as follows: The harvester is drawn over the field in a forward direction and the pick-up device 20 functions as described above to pick hay from the swaths and delivers such hay to the crop-handling means comprising the platform 28 and rearwardly moving chains 80. The crop is transferred from this means to the feeder house 30 whence it is moved into the blower housing [8, reduced, and delivered outwardly through the conveyor duct 22. As mentioned above, a conventional machine of this type, when operating to pick up out hay or other crop directly from the swath, is subject to the disadvantage that material becomes entangled at the outer or right-hand end of the pick-up and ultimately bunches or balls up under the right-hand wheel M. This disadvantage is not particularly noticeable at the inner end of the pick-up, since the left-hand wheel I2 is considerably laterally spaced from the left-hand end of the pick-up. According to the present invention, improved divider means is provided for eliminating the disadvantage referred to.

The rotary device is designated generally by the numeral 84. In its preferred form, it includes a conical element 86 preferabl formed of lightweight sheet metal suitable for the purposes. This sheet metal cone is disposed horizontally with its axis substantially at right angles to the axis of the cylinder or drum 38. The cone is carried for rotation by a longitudinal shaft 88 which is provided with axially spaced-apart spiders 96 and 92 respectively at the base and apex ends of the cone. These spiders are fixed to the shaft 88 and their peripheral portions are fixed to the shell of the cone. A plurality of longitudinally extending control shafts 94 extends from the base to the apex of, and within, the cone and parallels the elements of the cone. Each shaft is journaled at opposite end portions thereof in the spiders 90 and 92 and each shaft carries a plurality of crop-engaging members in the form of spring fingers 96 similar to the fingers 52 on the pick-up device 20. The cone is appropriately slotted at 98 to accommodate the fingers 96, these slots being similar to the slots 54 in the drum 38.

Each of the shafts 94 projects rearwardly through the spider 90 and carries a control cam I00 which is cooperative with a master cam I02 for effecting extension and retraction of the finger 96 as the conical element 86 rotates.

In the drawing the arrow A indicates the direction of travel of the harvester unit, the arrow B indicates the direction of movement of picked up material, and the arrow C indicates the direction of movement of the material as effected by the device 84. The direction of rotation of the cone 86 is indicated by an arrow in Figure 4.

The divider device 84 is carried by part of the harvester frame structure, preferably by means of a bracket or support I04 rigidly secured to that portion of the harvester frame comprising the side frame member 26 and housing 5!], as will be apparent in Figure 3. A larger illustration of the support I 04 appears in Figure 5.

This support has an inner flange I05 which provides means for the mounting thereof on the housing part 50, and further has an integral portion providing a'bearing I08 and preferably a second integral portion providing a yoke III). This yoke is connected .on a vertical axis to a second yoke II2 which is in turn rigidly secured to the master cam I02 of the divider device 84. The manner of securing the cam I02 to the second yoke II2 may include a plurality of cap screws IM, as suggested in Figure 4. The cam IE2 is thus rigidly mounted and held against rotation while the cone 86 may rotate with the shaft 88.

The shaft 88 extends rearwardly through the cam I62 and second yoke I I2 and is connected by a universal joint H6 to a short shaft II8 journaled in the bearing portion I08 of the support I 04. The rear end of the shaft IIB has keyed thereto a bevel pinion I which is in constant mesh with a bevel pinion I22 which has means for fixed connection to and for rotation with the rigid-hand or outer end of the pick-up shaft 40.

The connection on a vertical axis between the yokes III) and H2 is efiected by a pair of vertically coaxial pins I24. The common axis of the pins is substantially coincident with the plane of the axes of the universal joint I I6. The upper arm of the yoke III] is extended forwardly, as at I26 (Figure 5), and is provided with an arcuate slot I28 about the axis at I24 (Figure 3). A cap screw I30 passes through the slot I28 and into a tapped bore I32 provided in an upper portion of the oke I I2. The construction just described provides means for arranging the device 84 for adjustment about the axis at I24 and the cap screw I30 provides means for securing any position of adjustment. Hence, the device 84 may be selectively positioned at different angles with respect to the axis of the pick-up drum or cylinder 38.

The operation of the harvester equipped with the preferred form of the divider device has been covered above in connection with the description of the construction thereof. Various features of the invention not specifically enumerated herein will undoubtedly occur to those versed in the art, as will numerous modifications and alterations in the preferred form of the invention illustrated, all of which may be accomplished without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A crop-gathering machine, comprising: a mobile unit adapted to advance over a field of crops; means at a forward portion of the unit for gathering crops, including a pick-up device rotat able about a transverse horizontal axis for picking up out crops and moving such crops in a rearward direction; and a crop divider carried by the unit in advance of the pick-up device, including a crop-handling element rotatable On a substantially longitudinal, generally horizontal axis and having crop-engaging means thereon for engaging cut crops ahead of the pick-up device for movin such crops laterally.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, further characterized in that: the crop-handling element is of generally conical shape formed about its axis of rotation and having its apex to the front.

3. The invention defined in claim 1, further characterized in that: means is provided for mounting the crop-handling element on the unit for lateral adjustment relative to the pick-up device.

4. The invention defined in claim 1, further characterized in that: driving means interconnects the pick-up device and the crop-handling element for rotation in unison.

5. A crop-gathering machine, comprising: a mobile unit adapted to advance over a field of crops; means at a forward portion of the unit for gathering crops; means on the unit rearwardly of the gathering means for receiving gathered crops; and a crop divider carried by the unit at One side thereof and positioned ahead of the ment movable transverse to the direction of movement of crops by the gathering means and means for driving the crop-engaging element.

'7. An attachment for a crop-harvester of the type having a rotary pick-up device disposed transverse to the direction of advance of the harvester over a field of crops, comprising: a support having means for the mounting thereof on the harvester at one end of the pick-up device; an elongated shaft journaled in the support and adapted to project forwardly from said end of the pick-up device; a conical element coaxial with and fixed to the shaft to have its apex to the front; and crop-engaging members carried by the conical element.

8. The invention defined in claim 7, further characterized in that: the rear end of the shaft extends behind the base of the conical element and has means thereon for establishing a driving connection to a driven part of the harvester.

9. The invention defined in claim 7, further characterized in that: the support includes provision for adjustment of the shaft and conical element in a direction transverse to the normal extension of the shaft axis.

0. The invention defined in claim 7, further characterized in that: the crop-engaging members are carried by the conical element for timed extension and retraction; and means are provided for extending and retracting said members.

11. An attachment for a crop-harvester of the type having a pick-up device disposed transverse to the direction of advance of the harvester over a field of crops and including an upright wall structure at one side generally paralleling the line of advance, comprising: a support having means for the mounting thereof on the harvester adjacent the upright wall structure and including a journal having an axis in a plane generaly paralleling the plane of the wall structure; a cropdivider element carried by the support for rotation on said axis and projecting ahead of the wall structure; and crop-engaging means carried by said element.

STANLEY HERBERT MARSH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 541,093 Johnson June 18, 1895 1,873,439 Livesay Aug. 23, 1932 1,882,875 Pierson Oct. 18, 1932 2,347,907 Hill May 2, 1944. 

